‘Birds of Prey’ tops North America box office but fails to soar

LOS ANGELES, USA – For new Warner Bros. release Birds of Prey, the weekend brought good and bad news: It took in $33 million to lead the North American box office, but fared poorly for a superhero movie.

The 3-day gross, reported by industry watcher Exhibitor Relations, marked one of the lowest domestic launches in years for a studio superhero film, according to Hollywood Reporter. 

The film, starring Margot Robbie as former Joker girlfriend Harley Quinn, has drawn generally strong reviews. 

The R-rated movie from young Chinese-American director Cathy Yan reportedly cost just under $100 million to produce – the lowest budget of any installment in the DC Extended Universe.

Sony’s action comedy Bad Boys for Life, with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence as wise-cracking detectives, slipped just one notch after topping the box office for 3 straight weeks, taking in $12 million.

Both movies may have suffered from Academy Award weekend, when viewers showed renewed interest in 1917, the pre-show favorite for the Best Film Oscar which eventually went to Parasite on Sunday.

1917, the wrenching and technically impressive war film from director Sam Mendes, earned $9.2 million for the weekend, down only slightly from the week before.

In 4th was another Universal picture, Dolittle, based on the children’s book about a veterinarian who can talk to animals. With a cast headed by Robert Downey Jr. and Emma Thompson, the poorly reviewed film took in $6.5 million.

And in 5th, one spot up from the previous week, was Sony’s Jumanji: The Next Level, at $5.6 million. It has Dwayne (“The Rock”) Johnson and Kevin Hart being plunged back into a dangerous video game world.

Rounding out the top 10 were:

• The Gentlemen ($4.2 million)
• Gretel and Hansel ($3.6 million)
• Little Women ($2.4 million)
• Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker ($2.3 million)
• Knives Out ($2.3 million)

– Rappler.com